A $200 million blooper by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray

The latest communications blooper from Seattle Mayor Ed Murray is a $200 million April Fool’s Day misprint.

Murray was up in Ballard to announce $2 million in neighborhood business district improvements directed at such uses as “social media,” “district advertising,” “graffiti removal” and “dumpster-free alleys.”

Oh yes, the city will also be spending money on something called “catalytic development projects.”

The Murray announcement was accompanied by a tweet appropriate to April Fool’s Day, but certain to turn City Hall faces red, even in a city known for never spending one dollar when two will do.

“I am proud to announce $200 million in new funding for the ‘Only in Seattle’ initiative,” said Murray’s message to the world on Twitter.

This wasn’t supposed to happen again. The mayor exiled his press secretary after a near-death experience in February. Murray sent out a heartfelt eulogy on the death of former Department of Neighborhoods director Jim Diers. It turns out Diers is very much alive. The mayor meant to be eulogizing former state investment chief Joe Dear.

The Murray office inadvertently sent out two draft statements, one straightforward and the other snarky, when the Republican-run state Senate finally allowed the state DREAM Act to pass, making undocumented students available for benefits.

Murray went through a rough late Friday news conference in February, after interim Seattle Police Chief Harry Bailey canceled the punishment and misconduct finding for a Seattle police officer who threatened to go to offices of The Stranger and harass news editor Dominic Holden.

During last fall’s campaign, Murray’s establishment backers — particularly The Seattle Times — touted him as the man to bring peace and order back to City Hall.

He may be doing just that, but the sober, serious Murray has supplied the Emerald City with some belly laughs.

He may be following the path of a wonderful self-reflection by New York’s great Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia: “When I make a mistake, it’s a beaut.”